[The South Texan]

What happened to Gateway? Thee computers are not that bad. Was this retail store concept part of their demise?

[annyokie]

They make an excellent computer, if you are knowledgable enough to build your own online. Hubby has a Gateway notebook. Their sales reps suck and are arrogant Gen Z types for the most part.

They made an astute business decision and decided to do the Dell thing.

[Capt. Tom]

What happened to Gateway? Thee computers are not that bad.

Wal-Mart Sells PCs With Sun's Java Desktop System techweb ^ | March 31, 2004

Posted on 03/31/2004 2:15:44 PM EST by stainlessbanner

Sun has finally found an American partner for its Java Desktop System (JSD), the company's Linux-based alternative to Microsoft Windows: über-retailer Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart on Tuesday began selling low-cost Microtel PCs pre-loaded with JDS, offering several systems at prices ranging from $298 to $698.

Java Desktop System, which runs on Linux, includes the Gnome desktop, StarOffice productivity suite, Mozilla Web browser, and the Evolution e-mail client, and is Sun's pitch as a replacement for Windows and Microsoft Office in both the consumer and enterprise arenas.

On Tuesday, Sun said that it was seriously considering Wal-Mart as the sole PC supplier for JDS-equipped computers.

To prove the point, Wal-Mart's online and retail stores have begun selling systems like the Microtel SYSWM8001, which uses an AMD 1.6GHz Duron processor, comes with 128MB of memory, and a 40GB hard drive for less than $300. The 8001, as well as four other Microtel models, come standard with JDS.

[doug9732]

"What happened to Gateway?"

Their fatal mistake was agreeing to collect sales tax for every state that has one. People don't want to pay both shipping and sales tax.

[chilepepper]

Their EARLIEST computers (486 vintage) were not bad. I bought a 120 MHz Pentium from them and i can't begin to count the ways i was ripped off, from the low performace motherboard (they left out the pipe-line burst cache in the memory and then tried to tell me EDO memory would make up for the increased access times), to the monitor that burned up a year later, to the woofer that burned up a year later, etc etc

i bought the 120MHz based on their reputation from the earlier machines, but they had already started to cut corners, and boy did they cut corners...

whoever convinced them to open stores throughout the US just as the dot-com boom was peaking and heading south was a *real* genius (not)...

good riddance gateway -- i dislike dell *ALMOST* as much but they are much more savvy and will ride things out, but their stuff is so-so IMHO...

[discostu]

Too much horizontal expansion into areas where they were weak. First the stores which put them in direct competition with Circuit City and Best Buy, a competition they couldn't win because the others sold software; then they started branching into other electronics (like TVs) thus putting themselves in competition with still more retailers all of whom had better selections and more expertise.

Horizontal expansion works best when you can really leverage, which they couldn't, or when you're expanding into under populated space, which they didn't.

[hobson]

A friend of mine purchased a hign-end Gateway notebook, three months later it lost it's mind and became a boat anchor.

[ovrtaxt]

I never even walked into a Gateway store. All computer parts can be bought online far cheaper and better.

Not only that, Don't those creeps at Gateway support Daschle? I hope he's deeply troubled.

[hunter112]

What happened to Gateway? Thee computers are not that bad. Was this retail store concept part of their demise?

It had to be, look at Dell, they're still going strong. Computers are a tough product to sell in retail outlets, the savvy people already know you get the best prices buying online, the really savvy people know how to build their own, and that pretty much leaves the retail outlets with the dumb people who will drive the store buggy with returns and silly questions.

Another poster had it right, Americans are an instant gratification society, we expect to walk into a store, and be able to walk out with what we came for. Retailing computers seems to be pretty risky, all your merchandise is like produce, you have to move it quickly, or it goes obsolete in a hurry.

Look how many small independent computer shops have opened, then folded. Sure, a lot of it is from geeks who have no idea how to guarantee customer satisfaction, but its a low-margin business at best, requiring massive amounts of handholding for people who are goofy enough to load an AOL disk into a perfectly good computer.